Thursday, June 28, 2012

Respect The Fly Shit was written/recorded in one fall swoop @ Embassy Suites during SXSW (March 2012) in just 24 hours. Harry Fraud and Tommy Mas mounted a mic on top of an ice bucket and somehow managed to morph a hotel room into a make-shift recording studio... Meyhem Lauren quickly invited everyone who was anywhere nearby Austin, TX to roll through Room #426 over a 2-day period and record a verse: Action Bronson, Heems, Sean Price, RiFF RAFF, Roc Marciano, AG Da Coroner, and a few more rapping friends. Beat-wise, Fraud and Mas somehow managed to conjure up 12 Jazzy, Boom-Bap-filled originals, ready to be fully laced up and punchline accented.

Re-mastered @ SXSW's end, Respect The Fly Shit is a collection of 12 care-free tracks that were loosely laid down over a long weekend [vacation]. Meyhem Lauren then managed to forge a solid enough relationship with clothing company LRG and Heems' record label, Greedhead that they both agreed to sponsor/fund his FRESH mixtape. Respect The Fly Shit premiered online earlier today and is now available for monetary commitment-free download @ LRG online. Hold up... make sure to check out Heems' directorial debut behind the lens for "Special Effects" (Action Bronson 1 of 5) up above, too.

Yoni Wolf, the rapping son of Rabbi Wolf, often makes music that sounds like a dis-jointed mix between Bright Eyes and something like Beastie Boys or Beck. Equally loved/loathed by Hip-Hop and Indie Rock fans alike, WHY? have finally re-emerged from roughly 3 years of utter silence. While they've had a full-length completed since Summer 2011, WHY? are planning to release a new EP, Sod In The Seed, on August 14th first. Anticon uploaded "Sod In The Seed" (single) to their Soundcloud page just yesterday afternoon, along with the EP's interestingly painted cover art.

Right off the bat, Yoni Wolf comes in sounding all emo, a little bit like Bright Eyes... but fairly soon, WHY? laces up an Electronic bell-backed beat and Wolf starts rapping the shit out of "Sod In The Seed." In addition to all that, WHY? also announced a string of North American tour dates, running from August-Oct. along with some friends-collaborators: Serengeti, Doseone, DJ Thanksgiving Brown, Jel, and more. Sod In The Seed EP is out August 14th and WHY?'s proper follow-up to Eskimo Snow (2009) should be out by the late/early part of 2012-13.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Just one day after posting it's looping 4-minute long trailer and mere hours after a collection of online remixes was released, Lana del Rey has unveiled the Anthony Mandler-directed music video short film for her track, "National Anthem." A pair of rising young stars each with a single album [mixtape] under their belt, I'm pretty sure that Lana del Rey & A$AP Rocky can relate to Jackie O. & JFK, the characters which they loosely portray throughout "National Anthem." Self-admitted fans of eachother's work(s), del Rey and Rocky first met over Winter 2011-12 while working together on a collaborative track. "Ridin'" was written/recorded along with The Kickdrums, hastily pulled from Follow The Leader, and appended onto A$AP Rocky's upcoming Sept. 11th debut LP, LONGLIVEA$AP.

Man, I can already tell that "National Anthem" is going to be one of those videos that everyone and their brother blogs bout, while no one really "gets" it. But everyone knows that it's supposed to be extremely "provocative" or something like that: Marilyn Monroe (Happy Birthday), political/multi-racial undertones, Americana, Hip-Hop booty-popping, The Kennedys, fast cars, and to paraphraseA$AP Rocky himself... "Some cool trippy shit, some real 2015 shit that no one's even going to actually [understand] for like 3 years!" Interscope plans to release "National Anthem" on July 4th, it's the fifth single pulled from Born 2 Die and that's available in stores now. A$AP Rocky's long-awaited $3 million record for Polo Grounds Music (Sony) is out this upcoming Sept. 11th. "Ridin,'" that previously-shelved collabo track with Lana del Rey is expected to appear somewhere within LONGLIVEA$AP - Tracklisted right alongside the likes of Pharrell, Santigold, Hit-Boy, and Skrillex!?

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Meticulously chopping and re-pasting samples pulled from Rene Costy, Fred Wesley & The J.B.'s, and Jacques Delon, "Fuck The Police" came out @ a pivotal time during J Dilla's blossoming career... between his transition from Soulquarians producer to rapping emcee. Nearly 6 years after Dilla's untimely passing, J.Rocc released a re-work of "F--- The Police" earlier this afternoon, which ends up cleanly editing down the track's lyrical content; Candidly stating via Soundcloud, "Here's a snippet of a little something that I was working on. Played this out a few times and it's CRACKIN' !!"

While he adds that the full version of his "Police" (re-work) might never even see the light of day, J.Rocc is currently prepping the release of yet another edits collection: The Minimal Waves Tapes - Edits, Vol 1 & 2. His semi-recent mixed genre album, Some Cold Rock Stuf and it's companion EP, Mystery Tracks are now cataloged and available for purchases over @ Stones Throw. Just $24 for the pair in a CD/mp3 bundle pack! J.Rocc will most likely be lacing up Yasiin Bey & Talib Kweli's long-overdue second album, "Black Star Aretha" with proper DJ cuts.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Even though I only caught roughly 35 minutes-worth of their set sunday afternoon [running 2-3], Ghost undoubted made the biggest impact on my musical ear this weekend @ Metallica's first annual Orion Festival. Frontman "Papa Emeritus" and his band of 5 cloaked Nameless Ghouls flew in from Sweden @ buddy James Hetfield's special request. Ghost has been garnering a note-worthy amount of blog-based buzz since about 2010 coinciding with the release of their debut album, Opus Eponymous. Somehow warranting rumored claims of "Satanism" practice, I personally think Ghost make music that sounds like Classic Rock/Metal: Black Sabbath, Cream, Blue Öyster Cult, Metallica, The Rolling Stones, etc.

Donning their now infamous priest/peasant-inspired hooded garb, Ghost ripped through a 10-12-somg set, including a spot on "Here Comes The Sun" cover, in the blistering 90° Atlantic City heat. Visually, it all vaguely reminds me of what KISS grew oh so well @ doing [A]LIVE! in concert between 1970-90, just feeling more genuine and slightly less contrived. Catch Ghost in a city near you while you still can... the Swedes are still state-side touring behind Opus Eponymous (2010), while simultaneously working on new material. Take my word for it, Ghost put on one Hell of a stage show - that's definitely worth checking out!

Friday, June 22, 2012

Before I head down to Atlantic City for a debauchery-filled weekend @ Metallica's "Orion" Festival with a few buddies, Arctic Monkeys, Modest Mouse, Fucked Up, Best Coast, Ghost, and 30-some other bands... I figured I'd dub up a quick post on this nice little slice of Southern Rock: JEFF The Brotherhood - Hypnotic Knights EP. It's essentially a sampler EP, featuring 4 tracks that will eventually end up on Hypnotic Nights LP, which is slated for a July 17th release date. In honor of Hypnotic Knights EP and sticking with the "Sixpack" theme, Jake & Jamin Orrall shotgunned a few beers on camera @ Maxwell's (Hoboken, NJ) the other night. Hypnotic Nights LP is now available in a number of pre-order packages over @ JEFF The Brotherhood's site. METALLICA!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Homeboy Sandman really is just a "simple kind of man." The recent Stones Throw signee has released 2 EP's, which properly display his rapping abilities over the past few months. Subject: Matter EP features Sandman rapping about some of life's most ordinary happenings; Some #VERYRARE topics for Hip-Hop @ least... creative art, socks, toothpaste, sexual encounters, mamacitas, canned goods, and daily showers. In a unique effort to promote Subject: Matter and it's proper follow-up, Chimera EP, Homeboy Sandman recorded 2 new tracks in an attempt to try and entice listeners to buy his new material.

That shit was cleverly titled, "Subject: Matter Out Now" and "Chimera Out Now." Sandman managed to recruit producers Fred Ones and Audible Beats, ultimately obtaining 2 Golden Age-esque hard-hitting backing beats. So, head on over to Stones Throw, check out a combined Knocksteady-directed music video that was shot on Williamsburg Bridge. Go ahead and listen to the man himself - Subject: Matter & Chimera EPavailable for $20 as a package deal. Homeboy Sandman's full-length debut is expected to materialize sometime during Fall 2012.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

While he's mainly known for wielding a ukelele and generally garners comparisons to The Beach Boys, Dent May is just as downright Funky and rebellious as the next 20-something young adult. In promotion of May's recently-released Paw Tracks LP, Do Things, the label unveiled a faithful cover of The Grateful Dead's Disco-tinged cult hit, "Shakedown Street."Stereogum writer Amrit Singh vividly details the scene way back then...

"Back when Dead shows were a thing [1978], the main drag of the parking lot where kind veggie burritos, ganja goo-balls, and sundry wares of that ilk were at their highest concentration was called "Shakedown Street."'

By most accounts, Do Things is a little more Surf Rock-leaning than his first album, The Good Feeling Music of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele (2009). Every so often, Dent May records Dance music under the moniker, "Dent Sweat" and has been working on an unfinished Psych-Country Rock Opera for quite a few years now. Dent May still throws weekly RAGERS @ his home, Cats Purring Dude Ranch. Pick up a copy of May's unofficial debut, A Brush with Velvet EP, which roughly dates back to 2007 and comes with a Prince cover, re-loaded and available over @ Cats Purring.

I was originally going to do a feature-length spotlight [rising] post on Bizarro Internet rapper, RiFF RAFF, but I soon realized that my scope was far too broad for the average reader's attention span. So, like they tell you on those high school research papers... I decided to "narrow my topic range." While RiFF RAFF recently signed to Diplo's ever-growing Mad Decent record label and has released tracks with everyone from Action Bronson to Kitty Pryde, he has yet to unveil a proper full-length album. RiFF RAFF was notoriously axed from the cast of From G's to Gents on the second episode (2009). RiFF RAFF has since strategically aligned himself with Soulja Boy, Chief Keef, Lil Debbie [KREAYSHAWN], Wiz Khalifa, MOD SUN & Cisco Adler as his rap career slowly grows into something more and more prosperous.

Having all raked up reality [M]TV time, RiFF RAFF formed "Three Loco" along with fellow weirdly funny rappers, Dirt Nasty and Andy Milonakis. With an all too brief micro-discography in toe, Three Loco filmed a music video for "NEATO" with Trailer Park Boys director/creator, Mike Clattenburg. It's a painfully outrageous, debauchery-filled clip full of drugs, booze, hookers, etc. "NEATO"'s unique lyrical structure is something that should also be fully noted: 2-2-1. Andy Milonakis and RiFF RAFF each spit 2 short, choppy verses before Dirt Nasty or the hook even come in. When he finally shows up towards the track's middle section, Dirt Nasty appears to rise from the dead on the Las Vegas sidewalk in a 3-piece suit. Elsewhere, Derek Allen effectively manages to jack Farmers Insurance's commercial jingle for "We Are Farmers..."RiFF RAFF is currently working on his Mad Decent debut (2013) along with Diplo and it sounds like a Three Loco album is already " in the pipeline," too.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Kitty Pryde is a 19-year-old rapper hailing from Daytona Beach, FL who almost sounds like a strange blend of Lil B #BASEDGOD and reigning Pop princess, Katy Perry. She's going through the same experiences/mishaps as your average middle American teen, except it's being re-told along with a clever Hip-Hop cadence: Facebook infidelity, prom date woes, non-repliant texters, boy troubles, etc. Kitty Pryde recently complied a 15-minute setlist for her first New York area show, which went down this past weekend. It's the accumulation of a discography that can all be easily downloaded over @ Bandcamp. "Okay Cupid" is essentially an ode to Pryde's 3-ring binder-solidified crush, Danny Brown. Director Brian McKay quickly filmed it's companion music video @ a friend's yardsale last month and it's received some 400,000+ YouTube views ever since. I'm not 100% sure if Kitty Pryde's being TOTALLY for real or not - Yeah, sometimes she sounds a little immature and silly, but I really think she's just rapping about what she knows best.

Right now, Kitty Pryde's complete "discography" consists of 2 EP's and some Bandamp Loosies: haha i'm sorry EP and the lizzie mcguire experience. The bulk of these tracks were haphazardly self-recorded into a shitty MacBook microphone, produced by Beautiful Lou, and sample a bunch of random stuff... Carly Rae Jepsen, J Dilla, MADVILLAIN, Nicki Minaj, MF DOOM, [The] Game, and Frank Ocean. For all you comic book lovers out there, yes, Kitty Pryde does in fact borrow her stage name from a popular X-men heroine. Supposedly, a handful of label execs. were @ The Knitting Factory [NYC] show over the weekend, so I wouldn't be completely surprised to hear news that Kitty Pryde inks a record deal sometime moderately soon. Since a music video for RiFF RAFF-assisted track, "Orion's Belt" was released late Monday afternoon, haha i'm sorry EP now has 2 visual components. But my personal favourite Kitty Pryde track is probably still "Thanks Kathryn Obvious" (lizzie mcguire exp).

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Love This Giant, the long-rumored brass-based collaborative album from St. Vincent (Annie Clark) and former Talking Heads frontman, David Byrne is finally slated for a September 11th release on 4AD/Todo Mundo. Having randomly met @ a 2009 Dirty Projectors & Björk benefit show... Clark and Byrne were later approached to orchestrate a similar concert for Housing Works, to which David Byrne adamantly replied, "Why don't we [just] go ahead and record these and make it an album!?" After roughly 2 1/2 years of tinkering between their own solo albums, Love This Giant is finally good and ready for a wide-spread unveiling.

Material was jointly co-written/recorded by both St. Vincent & David Byrne, with production assistance from John Congleton, and horn-aided backing from The Dap-Kings AND Antibalas. The album will be composed of 12 original tracks and accompanied by a Fall mini-tour spanning across the United States and Canada. First single, "Who?" quite properly displays the sheer difficulty that David Byrne and Annie Clark had trying to tailor-fit lyrics to go along with brass-centric backing sounds, often "re-writing the words about three times before hitting a direction [that] worked!""Who?" is conveniently available for download or stream from the Love This Giant widget below @ the mere price of $1.00 email address. I'm sure this is just a small sampling of the horn-ified craziness that St. Vincent & David Byrne are gearing up to unleash into the world come September 10-14th!

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Frankly, silkscreening custom band T-shirts, secretly leaking tracks via Craigslist, and private pressing your own albums is about as D.I.Y. and "crafty" as it gets in mundane 2012 A.D. Michael Coomers has formed a new band since releasing Harlem's last Matador-backed record, HIPPIES. Lace Curtains was quietly announced along with a companion Tumblr, where Coomers prints up made-to-order $25 T-shirts using "original paint [from] The Ren & Stimpy Show" (1992). Matthew Tong drums on the garden of joy and the well of loneliness, while Curtis from Harlem laid down a few additional guitar riffs.

I hear that Michael Coomers is toying around with the idea of re-forming a fully fleshed out band for a short North American tour this Summer. Female Fantasy Records is probably going to release the garden of joy and the well of loneliness sometime in July. "High Fantasy" was posted on Lace Curtains' Tumblr back in mid-May and "Bedroom Honesty" was linked during a Craigslist "casual encounters" post just the other day (June 11th). Michael Coomersbravely included the caption/description, "looking for whatever that means to you..." along with it; Man, I bet he got a shit-ton of very interesting email replies straight to his Inbox!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Think about it: What if Biggie was the first masked Hip-Hophead to embrace and practice Illuminati? Passing everything he knew onto Jay-Z before his sudden, mystery-filled passing? Most likely, that's all just hearsay... but that'd actually be pretty damn cool! New Jersey-born Witch-House producer, oOoOO (Chris Dexter) uploaded a new track to Soundcloud earlier today, somewhat cryptically titled "333." It's actually a remix of Ghostface Killah's semi-recent track, "Three Bricks," which featured Raekwon and a recycled Biggie verse [See what I just did there!?]. Parts of this new edit mildly reminds me of oOoOO's past nearly unrecognizable remixed works: Lady GaGa, Corina, SALEM, and Nadia Oh.

"333" almost sounds like it could be The Illuminati's theme song, if it even exists. But I guess we'll never really know, 'cause it's a "secret society" and all that shit. oOoOO properly re-laces "Three Bricks" with plenty of ghostly wobbles, vocal fragments, drum hits, sludgy bass, thick distortion, etc. Chris Dexter just recently released his second EP, Our Love Is Hurting Us and announced 10 North American tour dates. He's currently prepping a full-length for Tri Angle Records in 2012-13.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Since it's largely being totted as an [all] "GiRL pUnK bAnD," I'm mildly curious as to what sort of role rising Vancouver producer Blood Diamonds (Mike Tucker) really played in the creation of "DON'T SMOKE MY BLUNT BITCH." Supposedly recorded in 10 minutes and filmed in under an hour over the weekend, the track was produced by Grimes and it's trippy-ass music video was directed by Tragik. L$D's third and final member, KREAYSHAWN looks really hot and raps well too, as usual!

President Obama said that "L$D r a fresh breath of air after months of depressing goth pop" and New York Times has already championed them as "the hypest band in l.a." No word just yet on an L$D album/mixtape, but I'd almost expect one sooner than later since they keep referring to "DON'T SMOKE MY BLUNT BITCH" as their first single. KREAYSHAWN's long-rumored Interscope debut, Somethin' Bout Kreay is slated for an August 14th release date, while Grimes' latest album, Visions, has been out for a while now.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Bottom line, Blue Chips is most likely the best mixtape of the year, even though it was released as early as March 2012. That really doesn't say much for Hip-Hop or music as a whole. Anyways... Action Bronson is a "Rap Singer" from Flushing, Queens who sounds like Ghostface Killah and looks like an Albanian Rick Ross. I has a chance to do an interview with Blue Chips' sole producer, Party Supplies (Justin), but yet again, my lack of phone interviewing skills got in the way and I kinda regret missing out on such a great opportunity. But shit, I hear that Action Bronson is currently hard @ work setting up All-Star features for "Blue Chips 2," so maybe I can initiate an interview to coincide with that one!

Constructed atop an old Aaron Neville sample (1973), "Steve Wynn" is quite arguably Blue Chips' strongest piece. Now it has a bath salts-fueled, revenge-filled music video to go along with it, which was directed by Rik Cordero. The bulk of Blue Chips was skillfully produced by Party Supplies using some pretty unorthodox techniques [Internet digging]; Justin Nealis ultimately layers samples pulled from The Four Seasons, "wild Japanese songs," Vietnamese Soul, Italian gangster flicks, Dean Martin, Rock "N" Roll, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Iron Butterfly, Ohio Players, and even Extreme!? Do yourself a favor and download a copy of Action Bronson's splendid Blue Chips (mixtape). If you really dig "Steve Wynn," head on over to Reebok's YouTube channel for a live in-studio MPC version of the track. "Blue Chips 2," coming soon to an iPod near you... long with Rare Chandeliers, Mr. Wonderful, and Saab Stories.

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Ancient Egypt was quite the area of interest for this guy right here was back in grade school... pyramids, King Tut, mummies, scarabs, The Nile, Spinx, etc. Frank Ocean really seems to share the same mutual admiration for Egypt, as his new 10-minute opus is affectionately titled "Pyramids." Friday [June 9th] was a BIG day for Mr. Ocean! It was later revealed that a mysterious trailer which was leaked in the early morning hours in fact contained both a new track and proper album release date; channel ORANGE, Frank Ocean's long-awaited debut LP, is finally slated to be unveiled on Def Jam July 17th. John Mayer supposedly managed to string together a guitar solo for "Pyramids'" mid-song tempo/stylistic shift.

Fresh off the heels of some Coldplay support dates, Frank Ocean announced his first full-fledged solo tour: Seattle-Chicago, running from July-early August. I guess it's pretty safe to assume that "Thinking About You" will re-appear as one of channel ORANGE's 17 rumored tracks. Honestly, anyone who's been a Frank Ocean fan since nostalgia, ultra [30-some FREE tracks] should be more than happy to pay a mere $10-15 for a hard copy of channel ORANGE upon it's wide-spread release within the next month or so. July 17th... mark your calendars!

Friday, June 8, 2012

The Roots, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Jimmy Fallon managed to orchestrate a pretty unique/endearing take on "Call Me Maybe." Shot backstage @ Studio 8B before Thursday's taping, it vaguely reminds me of Ben Folds' cover of "Such Great Heights"(Postal Service) that was released just a few years ago. In an un-usually crafty turn of events, Carly Rae Jepsen & Late Night Band somehow re-appropriate "Call Me Maybe"'s central melody and Pop-tinged hook on a gaggle of common classroom instruments: triangle, ukelele, tambourine, xylophone, bongo drums, kazoo, "recorder," afro pick, etc. Jepsen was essentially discovered online by Justin Bieber and now has a #1 hit single for Scooter Braun's record label, Schoolboy [Interscope]. Grab a copy of Carly Rae Jepsen's Curiosity EP and stay tuned for a full-length album, while Jimmy Fallon's new star-studded comedy record, Blow Your Pants Off is out Tuesday (June 12th).

"GUN HAS NO TRIGGER" is about the possibility for true dissent, and how I can't figure out what that could be. What is a 2012 Exodus from the Society of the Spectacle (to mix language Situationist and Rastafari)? So, we made a video from the iconography of the "Default" profile image used by Facebook and Gmail, and also the look of the classic Apple iPod commercials. The colors in the background are the ones I think of when I hear the harmonies of Amber [Coffman] and Haley [Dekle] (via experimental synesthesia). Enjoy!!

- David Longstreth (Director)

Dirty Projectors will make their triumphant return to Late Night with Jimmy Fallon this coming June 19th, which just so happens to be the release date for the band's new album, Swing Lo Magellan. Cross your fingers that David, Amber, Haley, etc. decide to link up with The Roots for yet another made-for-TV performance like "When The World Comes to an End" (2009). Shout outs to the guy who submitted this one to Stereogum's recent album caption contest: "Really? Never seen Seinfeld? The slap bass? Something like puaa-puaa-puaaa-puaaaaa chk ah tn tn tss."

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Contrary to popular belief, Das Racist's version of "The Recipe" (Gwyneth Paltrow) actually pre-dates Kendrick Lamar & Dr. Dre's single version, which was released first. Since "Meet The Frownies" [sample] was only issued in 2010, this all had to happen over the past 2 years... Scoop DeVille gave a rough version of the beat to Das Racist before ever even meeting Kendrick Lamar & Dr. Dre. But because Aftermath somehow managed to release "The Recipe" first, it may seem like Kool A.D. & Heems are beat-jacking, which is entirely off point. Anyways, here's Das Racist's final take, "Gwyneth Paltrow," now accompanied by some sort of found footage of 2 weird-ass 1970's "putty face" re-molding performance artists. Victor Vazquez directs or something...

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

When Instrumentals first dropped last year, it had that underlying "something great is going to happen" sort of feel and now a year later, on the heels of Instrumentals 2, something great HAS indeed happened! Even when just looking @ it's commercial reception, Instrumentals achieved leaps and bounds for an independent online release; The collection was eventually label-released and re-mastered. This homegrown success is essentially what allowed Clams Casino to make the type of high-profile beats that he's managed to create in recent months. Gaining dual acceptance into both mainstream/underground circles has allowed Mike Volpe [Clams] the chance to work with Lil B, Soulja Boy, Florence + The Machine, G-Side, The Jealous Guys, and Big K.R.I.T.

In fact, most of the instrumentals featured across Instrumentals 2 have been stripped down and re-purposed as vocal-less edits. These tracks previously housed either A$AP Rocky, The Weeknd, Lana del Rey, Squadda B, Washed Out, Mac Miller, or XV. Clams Casino has slowly niched out a unique genre for himself... making ridiculously "airy" Electronic-tinged Hip-Hop beats tailor-fit for weird/eccentric rappers; A style best displayed on A$AP Rocky's critically-acclaimed mixtape, LIVELOVEA$AP. Not to mention, Volpe basically spearheaded various BASED sounds to go along with Lil B #BASEDGOD's positive-thinking New Age Hip-Hop movement.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

It appears as though Fucked Up are pulling a "Beatles" - Taking a much-needed break from writing, recording, and playing shows. No word if inner-band emotions have actually played a part in the temporary split, but hopefully Fucked Up come back 10-fold after the break. Fucked Up's primary members are currently keeping fairly busy... logging time with a number of Hardcore Punk-tinged side endeavors. Young Guv & The Scuzz, CrimSane, baby-making, Looking for Gold, etc. For the record, frontman Damian Abraham is the one procreating and making new sounds with Matt Delong from No Warning and Violent Minds.

Earlier today, Stereogum writer Tom Breihan took the liberty of debuting CrimSane's premier Kushcore track, "ChinaFastGrow," which may or may not appear on an upcoming [possibly non-existant] EP/album release. Formerly known as "Criminally Insane" and then featuring Ben Cook (drums), the band previously released an underground 5-track Demo 7" way back in 2004. Fucked Up are however, planning to briefly re-form to fulfill a few prior commitments... festivals, tour dates, and such. Shit, I know that I'll be catching them LIVE @ Metallica's Orion Festival down in AC later on this month (June 23-24th)!

Monday, June 4, 2012

Baltimore, Maryland is a metropolitan city chock-full of creative, artistically-inclined young people. On the Indie Rock side of things, WEEKENDS, Dog Leather, Dope Body, Beach House, and Dan Deacon are a few of it's BIGGER, attention-drawing bands. Townsman Brett Yale runs a cassette-pressing record label, Friends Records and a companion Baltimore-centric music blog, B-more Musically Informed. He really seems eager to help sign, promote, and assist local bands in getting their music heard on a much larger scale.

Recently spotted a short write-up about "DJ Dog Dick" (Max Eisenberg) from Dog Leather's new Jazz-inspired track. Pictureplane once said that Dog Leather"[weren't] trying to be rappers, they are just being themselves" ... with that said, "Lights Down Low" definitely has an underlying Hip-Hop feel to it. Richmond's very own Lil Ugly Mane is featured rapping alongside DJ Dog Dick on the Shawn Kemp-produced track. When it comes down to it, said track may or may not eventually end up re-appearing on DJ Dog Dick's upcoming album, "THE LIFE STAINS lp out 2012 on HOSS RECORDS."

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Haphazardly constructed around an old Rudy Ray Moore vocal sample, "3 Dollars" features MF DOOM's triumphant return to the mic... Rapping over a beat produced by the younger brother of his long-time friend/collaborator, Oh No [Madlib]. Over time, Michael Jackson has somehow managed to tediously de-construct and re-assemble a collection of tracks, which were generously inspired [sample] by 1970's Blaxopolitan film series, Dolomite. Oh No's previous albums were exclusively built around samples culled from Middle EasternPsych Rock, Galt MacDermot, Ethiopian Funk-Jazz, and video games.

Five Day Weekend is prepping to release Oh No's latest album, cleverly titled "Ohnomite," this upcoming June 5th in conjunction with Stones Throw. Graphic artist Charles "Ques" Munka designed the colorful album cover, which showcases the rappers featured within: Guilty Simpson, MF DOOM, Phife Dawg, Erick Sermon, Rapper Big Pooh, Frank Nitt, M.E.D. and Roc Marciano. Munka also designed the image for "3 Dollars"' super-imposed 5-in. Oh No's new album is now available for pre-order over @ Stones Throw in a variety of formats: CD or 2LP, 5-in. single, and XL poster (double).

Friday, June 1, 2012

Lately, El-P's stream of recent output(s) have been pretty shocking, original, and un-apologetic ALL @ once... if that even fucking humanly possible in this sickeningly over-saturated marketplace! Much like his records, El-P's new music video, "The Full Retard" is painfully brash and almost uncomfortably in-your-face. In an attempt to defend his art, El-P recently described "The Full Retard" to Pitchfork: "Did I give a shit [if it's offensive]? Of course not. I don't care. It's a fucking joke, a Pop Culture reference. Even the context of that reference itself isn't making fun of retarded people -- It's people condescending to retarded people. I mean, honestly. Blow me."

Call it "offensive" or whatever you'd like, but Timothy Saccenti manages to direct a video that's equal parts jacked up and oddly appeal/endearing. Through out the course of "The Full Retard"'s plotline, El-Producto goes on a blood-ravaging four-wheeled rampage with his [squirrel] puppet friend, which was ultimately designed by Jeff Roberts. What ensues are assorted hi-jinx complete with beer, scrambled eggs, trash cans, sexual act[ions], "Mary Jane," coked up strippers, blood-stained flowers, oozies, etc. El-P's first album to materialize in roughly 5 years, Cancer 4 Cure is now available @ your local record store. Make sure to catch El-P and his singer-songwriter friends Killer Mike, Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire, and Despot on the "Into The Wild Tour" through July 15th (Trocadero).

About Me

Greetings, people of the world... Matt Horowitz AKA "The Witzard" here. I'm a 30-year-old college grad hailing from South Jersey. After receiving degrees in both Journalism and Business Management, I started this very blog around 2010 in an effort to share my vast knowledge of Pop Culture to help sharpen my writing chops. I thoroughly enjoy all things Pop Culture and some of my favorite genres include Punk, Hip-Hop, Indie Rock, etc. But I'll practically listen to anything once. I'm also an avid record collector and honestly, almost anything sounds better on wax! Thank you kindly for listening! Please, feel free to send music submissions to sharpcheddar856@gmail.com or Follow The Witzard on Twitter (@SharpCheddar856)